When Ryan and Kathia Jones first met making crepes at a mall food court, they didn’t expect that years later, they would be married with their own business: Gotta B Crepes.
“(After a) couple years (the mall food court) closed down and Kathia was out of a job,” Ryan Jones said. “And one of the final customers there said, ‘If you ever have a restaurant, it’s gotta be crepes.’ The lady just recognized Kathia knowing all the steps of owning your own business. And when she heard she was thinking about doing it, she just encouraged her to really go for it.”
They began their small business journey in 2010, selling crepes from their front porch, and ever since, they’ve been serving Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. From 2018 to 2021, they owned their own restaurant in Evanston, which the pair said was a “dream come true.”
After the restaurant closed down, the pair shifted to focus solely on farmers’ markets and pop-ups. Ryan Jones said it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“At that time, in 2018, we didn’t want to just be doing only markets,” Ryan Jones said. “But what we found is doing only markets is pretty special, and to expand in the future will be about continuing to inspire other people to make crepes the way it’s got to be for their communities.”
Gotta B Crepes is now a pop-up food stand that serves the Evanston Farmers’ Market every Saturday morning, as well as a variety of other markets in the Chicago area.
“I think there’s some days I have eight crepes, but they’re so good,” Ryan Jones said. “And I always laugh when people say that we eat our own food, because it’s kind of the one reason we are in it — to make good food that we enjoy, to eat and share with others.”
The pair, who have been married since October 2007, said they have always been passionate about sharing their food with not only family, but also the communities they serve at farmers’ markets.
Kathia Jones said that starting a business as a husband and wife duo was transformative.
“It changed our whole entire life because we are believing in and doing crepes because that’s what we love to do,” Kathia Jones said.
Having regularly served the Evanston Farmers’ Market for 12 years, Gotta B Crepes has forged a relationship with Northwestern, Ryan Jones said. He said the couple appreciates NU students’ enthusiasm.
Nathan Arnold (McCormick ’23, ’24) said he was a regular at their restaurant for three years, making his visits a weekly tradition. Arnold said right off the bat, Ryan Jones began remembering his name.
“If you know Ryan and Kathia, they’re just super, super sweet and very warm and inviting,” Arnold said. “They make you feel welcomed to wherever you are.”
Now, living and working in Chicago, Arnold said he still visits Ryan and Kathia Jones at farmers’ markets.
The pair’s main focus is community, and they said they aim to provide not only delicious crepes to the communities they serve but also make their customers feel welcome.
“It’s like a family reunion,” Ryan Jones said. “And so the ones we’ve known, the ones we come to know, everyone always brings friends or guests to a family reunion, and everyone’s accepted.”
